Aston Clinton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map sources for Aston Clinton at grid reference SP880121

Aston Clinton is a village and civil parish that sits close to the main A41 road in Buckinghamshire, England between Tring and Aylesbury. The parish is 3,809 acres (15 km²) in size and is about 4 miles (6 km) east of Aylesbury. The parish had a population of 3,542 according to the 2001 census.

The parish church is dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. The village is located at the foot of the chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills at the junction of the pre-historic track the Icknield Way with the Roman Road Akeman Street .

The village name first made an appearance in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was called Estone, which in modern English means "eastern estate": possibly a reference to the village being an estate belonging to the manor of Aylesbury. However by 1237 the village had gained its own manor, which was owned by the de Clinton family, hence the name at that time of Aston de Clinton. A modern descendant of this family is Bill Clinton, former President of the United States of America who once visited the village during a business trip to nearby Chequers.

Traditionally there were three hamlets within the extensive parish borders of Aston Clinton in addition to the main village. Two of them, Longmore and Dundridge are still part of Aston Clinton parish, though St Leonards is now part of the Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards parish.

Property value in the village is set to rise now that the Aston Clinton Bypass opened on October 3rd 2003. The new road means that traffic from Aylesbury to London via Watford that previously went through the middle of the village is now diverted away from it.

The Aston part of the village name was used in the company name of the car manufacturer Aston Martin, after co-founder Lionel Martin had great success in the hill climb competition up Aston Hill. A plaque now marks the site.

In the heart of the village is the Anthony Hall which was donated to the village by the widow of Anthony Nathan de Rothschild.